DALLAS (Ticker) -- After blowing out the Los Angeles Lakers on
consecutive nights, it was only fitting that the Dallas
Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs played their next games against
each other with first place on the line.

Tim Duncan had 32 points and 14 rebounds and David Robinson
added 22 and 12 as the Spurs extended their winning streak to a
season-high 11 games with a 105-102 victory over the Mavericks.

Dallas posted a 16-point victory over Los Angeles on Tuesday
and San Antonio defeated the two-time defending champions the
following night, recording an 18-point triumph. With both teams
riding high after rare wins over the Lakers, it was a
back-and-forth battle until the game was decided from the
free-throw line in the final minutes.

The Mavericks rallied from a 12-point deficit in the third
quarter and had the lead before Robinson sank two free throws
to forge a 94-94 tie with 2:19 remaining.

Duncan followed with 1-of-2 free throws to put the Spurs ahead
for good with 1:44 left. After Dallas' Steve Nash missed a
runner, Bruce Bowen buried a 3-pointer from the left corner for
a four-point edge.

"Really, the turning point was when Bruce hit the three,"
Robinson said. "That was kind of the one big thing. It could
have gone either way up to that point."

Dirk Nowitzki responded with a layup for the Mavs, but Charles
Smith buried a jumper to restore the Spurs' lead with 25
seconds left.

"Down the stretch, they came up with a couple of more big
plays, especially that one 3-pointer from Bowen out of the
corner, which was pretty killer for us," Nowitzki said. "We
had our chances to win the game."

Nowitzki sank two free throws and, after San Antonio's Antonio
Daniels missed a pair, Greg Buckner made 1-of-2 to slice the
deficit to 100-99 with 19.8 seconds remaining.

Danny Ferry, Malik Rose and Duncan combined to make 5-of-6 free
throws in the final 14 seconds and Nash missed a half-court
hook shot at the buzzer as the Spurs pulled into a tie with
first-place Dallas in the Midwest Division.

"These two games with the Lakers and Dallas, the two teams were
ahead of us, really gave us a chance to shoot for our
short-term goal, which is to get to the head of the division,"
Robinson said. "We feel pretty good about these (games).
We're starting to play really solid basketball for 48 minutes."

San Antonio secured its longest winning streak since a
franchise-record 17-game run from February 29-March 31, 1996.

"I couldn't be more thrilled with them," Spurs coach Gregg
Popovich said of his players. "I've got to be really thrilled
that they are progressing like they are. I think they're going
to get better. I think they've got a lot of room for
improvement. Given the newness of some of the players, I
couldn't be more happy for them."

The Spurs hit just two baskets but sank 10-of-13 free throws in
the last four minutes. They were 14-of-22 from the line in the
fourth quarter while the Mavericks were only 5-of-8.

San Antonio shot 46 percent (36-of-74) from the floor and held
a commanding 51-40 rebounding advantage.

Nowitzki collected 29 points and 14 rebounds and Nash scored 28
points as Dallas lost for the third time in five games.

Michael Finley had 21 points and Raef LaFrentz added 13 and
nine rebounds before fouling out with 3:51 to go. Nick Van
Exel scored just two points on 1-of-12 shooting for the Mavs,
who connected at 45 percent (39-of-86) and made 11-of-28
3-pointers.

San Antonio had a 39-36 advantage with 6:17 left in the first
half before scoring 12 of the next 14 points. Rookie Tony
Parker sank consecutive jumpers and Robinson scored four points
during the spurt, capping it with a pair of free throws for a
51-38 lead with 80 seconds to go.

"The second quarter really hurt us," LaFrentz said. "We kept
fighting to get back into the game in the second half and we
made a game of it. Our first half wasn't nearly as good as our
second half, but we didn't give up and kept scrapping until the
very end."

The Mavs outscored the Spurs, 27-16, in the opening 8 1/2
minutes of third quarter and forged the first tie of the game,
71-71, on a layup by Wang Zhizhi with 3:31 left. The teams
were tied seven more times until Duncan delivered the lead for
good.